Sports are meant to bring fans together but the pandemic has made our love of sports more isolating with fans now forced to turn to technology platforms to share their passion. Sports afficianados no longer have to get into arguments over Twitter when watching games live thanks to Flick, the mobile chat and engagement platform built exclusively for sports fans. With users in 180+ countries, Flick goes beyond basic chat functions by showing scores/stats of games and the app also will soon offer a prediction-based fantasy game option. Fans are able to create polls and quizzes in real-time to spark engagement and drive debates and the platform is built to support large group chats, making it a great tool of choice for influencers.
AlleyWatch caught up with Cofounder, CEO, and repeat entrepreneur Nigel Eccles to learn how his experience cofounding FanDuel inspired him to build Flick, the company’s experience raising virtually during the pandemic, and recent funding round, which brings the total funding raised for the two-and-half-year-old company to $9.1M.
Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
Our $5M Series A funding round is led by AlleyCorp with participation from previous investors including Bullpen Capital, Everblue Management, Amity Ventures, Courtside Ventures, and several angels.
Tell us about the product or service that Flick offers.
Flick is a group chat platform for sports fans. It is a way for sports fans to hang out with other fans of their team while watching the game. Using Flick they can chat, cheer, follow live scoring and stats, and get reactions from other fans.
What inspired the start of Flick?
My cofounder, Rob Jones, and I previously founded FanDuel and have over 10 years of experience building products for sports fans. For some time, we thought it was weird that there wasn’t a natural home for sports fans on their mobile phone. Currently, all sports apps are pretty passive, follow scores or stats, but there wasn’t a good place to hang out with other fans.
How is Flick different?
Flick allows you to chat in real-time with other sports fans during games. Unlike Twitter, it is built purely for sports fans, with integrated live scoring and stats. Since Flick is designed as a chat tool, conversation flows much more smoothly compared to commenting platforms like Twitter, Instagram, or YouTube.
What market does Flick target and how big is it?
Our market is sports fans both in the U.S. and internationally and Flick is used in over 180 countries. Today our biggest market is actually soccer, but we are now growing into NFL, NBA, and MLB.
What’s your business model?
We have signed a partnership with a sportsbook, and we plan to integrate with them in early 2021.
How has COVID-19 impacted the business?
COVID has been a massive accelerant for the business. Fans can no longer go to games or even sports bars. However, they still crave the social element of watching sports with other fans. That is what Flick delivers.
What was the funding process like?
This funding round was actually very straight forward for us. Earlier in 2020, we spoke to a number of investors who we knew were excited about the sports opportunity. From that shortlist we picked AlleyCorp to lead the round. They have been great to work with and we quickly filled out the rest of the round with existing investors and some new angel investors.
What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?
It was definitely strange pitching without meeting people face-to-face. Earlier this year we spoke to a few investors who said they had never written a check without first meeting an entrepreneur. I suspect they have now! I definitely miss the face-to-face experience which helps you get confidence that this is someone I want to work with for the next 5-10 years.
What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
I think the first attraction was that we’ve worked in this sector for over ten years. We’ve thought a lot about what sports fans want and built a product to meet those needs. I think the second factor was the explosive growth of the market and then thirdly the product we had built since we raised our seed round.
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
The focus for the next 6 months is to continue to improve the utility of the product. We know our users love the chat functionality, but they want to see more scores and stats around the game. We are working to address that. Additionally, they also love making predictions, so we are in the process of rolling out a simple but really addictive fantasy game.
The game is super simple. Just pick five players from a game – but very hard to master.
What advice can you offer companies in New York that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?
Difficult to say in general. As a company, we’ve tried to remain the same whether we are freshly funded or nearing the end of our runway. That is stay focused on your users and the benefits your products bring them, stay lean and lastly be open about the vision of what you are trying to create.
Where do you see the company going now over the near term?
In the same way Snapchat is where you hang out with friends, or Twitter/Instagram is the place to follow celebrities and influencers, our objective is to be the place where sports fans hang out during games.
In the same way Snapchat is where you hang out with friends, or Twitter/Instagram is the place to follow celebrities and influencers, our objective is to be the place where sports fans hang out during games.
What’s your favorite outdoor dining restaurant in NYC?
So, I’ve only been to the city once since March. We brought the kids in to see MOMA which was deserted and fantastic. Afterward, we had lunch at Fogo de Chao. Funny, I’ve been there a lot with work, but it works even better with kids. They just loved how they just kept bringing us food.
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